MARQUETTE AND SAULT STE. MARIE, MI— The state Director of USDA Rural Development is in the U.P. this week to talk about Rural Opportunity Zones.
Dom Restuccia—who is holding roundtables in Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie—says the zones are a way to incentivize major business development, housing development, and economic development in rural communities by letting investors keep more of the money they’re incentivized to invest.
Restuccia says a 2017 tax law allowed for certain capital investment tax breaks in certain areas, but a lot of those opportunity zones ended up in urban and suburban communities. He says the One Big Beautiful Bill created a new type of opportunity zone specifically for rural areas.
“And the rural Opportunity Zones get three times the tax break and requires only half of the investment. So, there’s a huge incentive for us to have more Rural Opportunity Zones than before, because for half of your money you can get three times the tax value.”
The U-S Department of Treasury has identified more than 850 census tracts in Michigan that are eligible to become Rural Opportunity Zones. Governor Whitmer’s office has until the end of September to identify 25 percent to submit to the Treasury Department as opportunity zones. The designations will go into effect starting next year and last over the next decade.
Restuccia says under leadership of Secretary Brooke Rollins, the USDA is committed to serving the Trump/Vance Rural Revival Agenda.
